What age do kittens start eating regular kittens food?
Muscle Beach asked:
My week old kittens are getting bigger everyday, what age do kittens start eating regular kittens food?
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My week old kittens are getting bigger everyday, what age do kittens start eating regular kittens food?
January 26th, 2009 at 9:04 am
at six to eight weeks.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:07 am
i would suspect at kitten age.
February 1st, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Soft food at about 2-4 weeks and the hard at 3-5 weeeks. Depends on the kittens.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:43 pm
maybe like 2 months?
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:13 am
i have a litter right now so i say 4 weeks it keeps them from nursing the mom to much start them on some can food, but let them continue to nurse till 6 weeks
February 5th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
kittens usualy eat regular kitten food at about 5-6 weeks
cause 6 weeks they can usualy be given away and some eat solid food earlier.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
About eight weeks. When they are ready, they will show it. They won’t be happy nursing any more, and they will eat what is put out in front of them readily.
February 9th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
6-8 weeks is just right. At first my kitten ate wet food exclusively, then she discovered the crunchies on her own! It was so cute, you could tell she felt just like one of the big kitties…
February 12th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
7-8 weeks they should be totallly weened by 9
but when they are about 6 weeks start to add some moist kitten food to their diet while still allowign them to nurse…
aww good luckk
i luv kittens =)
February 15th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Six weeks when they start to wean off from their mother.
February 18th, 2009 at 2:30 am
when they get off their mothers milk.that is when they turn 6 weeks old.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:52 am
EDIT: My bad, I misread your question. But I’m going to leave my answer up anyway because it’s good advice about choosing a food - once they’re ready to start eating it.
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Any age if you feed them good food. “Kitten” food is little more than marketing.
Good food is either a properly balanced raw meat diet or a good quality canned food, such as those found in the links below.
You can switch your kitten to any of these foods at any time, and they will benefit immensely!
From my blog:
Do kittens need to eat “kitten” food?
My impression is no, and this entry will detail my research.
Why do I care? I don’t have kittens, but this question has come up on Answers and I want to know the truth.
Why do I think the answer is no? Old Cat Lady says so. That’s good enough for me but I want to be able to cite sources.
Little Big Cat has failed me here. This site has provided some info:.
Energy Requirements for Kittens and Adult Cats
Age kcal/lb body wt
Kittens: 10 weeks 113
20 weeks 59
30 weeks 45
40 weeks 36
Adult Cats: Inactive 18
Active 20-30
Pregnant 45
Lactating* 56–145
So it appears that kittens need many more calories than adults. So why not just feed them more?
This site has another table showing the minimum protein allowances for cats v. kittens. It boils down to kittens needing 4% more protein than adults. There were other items in there, but it didn’t vary widely at all.
Kittens need the same amount of fat.
They need a little more calcium, phosphorous and magnesium.
So in essence, it appears that so long as the food is adequately high in protein, your kitten will get what it needs - regardless of marketing hype.
February 19th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
At 4-6 weeks of age. Be sure to feed them kitten food, not cat food. They need the extra protein. They will still nurse at this age also, but it will slowly wean them while keeping them healthy.
February 21st, 2009 at 2:02 am
My kittens couldn’t eat any food until they were 7 weeks old. They started getting interested in their mom’s food at about 6 weeks and would try to eat it and choke. The vet told me they should start at 6-8 weeks. All they eat is the dry kitten food and water now. They are 13 weeks old.